


Clair De Lune

by Tendergingergirl



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-10 10:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17423873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tendergingergirl/pseuds/Tendergingergirl
Summary: 2017The ensuing thread and discussion of Clair de Lune was so engaging, inspiring and fun, I just could not leave it out, along with all of the valuable contributions.





	1. Clair, the Poem

##  _Poem by Arthur Symons, 1895_

 

 

___In the moonlit room your face,___  
Moonlight-coloured, fainting white,  
And the silence of the place  
Round about us in the night,  
And my arms are round about you  
In the silence of the night. 

_Lips that are not mine to kiss,_  
Lips how often kissed in vain,  
Broken seal of memories,  
Where the kisses come again  
That the lips of all your lovers  
Laid upon your lips in vain;

_Eyes that are not mine to keep_  
In the mirror of mine eyes,  
Where I tremble lest from sleep  
Other ghosts should re-arise;  
Why enthrall me with your magic,  
Haunting lips, triumphant eyes?

_For the silence of the night_  
Swims around me like a stream,  
And your eyes have caught the light  
Of a moon-enchanted dream,  
And your arms glide round about me,  
And I fade into a dream.

##  _Here’s to 1895…_

Thxs @[@221bmine](https://tmblr.co/mhwuGtebZZ9eljuD7UmRbIw) for the gorgeous gif.

* * *

 

 

 

 

>  


	2. Clair, the Discussion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2017
> 
> The ensuing thread and discussion of Clair de Lune was so engaging, inspiring and fun, I just could not leave it out, along with all of the valuable contributions.

"> [ isitandwonder ](http://isitandwonder.tumblr.com/post/151786235546)

 

Are you shitting me [@tendergingergirl](https://tmblr.co/mAUpLkk-g2KbCwvrDqp01Zg)? As there is no real perfume called Claire de la Lune they could have called Mary’s and Lady Smallwood’s perfume anything they liked. But no, it had to be Claire de la Lune!

When I’m not mistaken Symon’s contributed to The Yellow Book. Did he know Wilde? Please tell me more. I just read that this poem was published in 1895 in an anthology called ‘London Nights’. How very fitting!

 

[ ebaeschnbliah ](http://ebaeschnbliah.tumblr.com/post/151786919089)

Oh, that is beautiful! Great find [@tendergingergirl](https://tmblr.co/mAUpLkk-g2KbCwvrDqp01Zg) . And what a coincidence …. 1895!  :)))   As far as I know John is always compared to the sun - as is the lion (big cat) as a zodiac sign.  Sherlock on the other hand is compared with the moon that circles round the sun. Just look at the bright full moon behind him in the Pilot! 

That rises the question - why is Mary compared to the moon as well? Strongly. With her perfume Claire de la Lune? That doesn’t exist for real. A perfume that plays a big role in the CAM-Tower scene and at the beginning of TAB.

[@gosherlocked](https://tmblr.co/mIezJLOqh6ybA-BhE420_yw) [@isitandwonder](https://tmblr.co/mFsqQSE2JWjcYbaG45JmOgw) [@monikakrasnorada](https://tmblr.co/mkXZBObSWSQ7LEWKMb6_BCA) [@tjlcisthenewsexy](https://tmblr.co/m3cKRztnGlO63H-1PJU-5YA) [@longsnowsmoon5](https://tmblr.co/m-kl_Tum3BZzaBuuAvxRHkQ)

 

[ monikakrasnorada ](http://monikakrasnorada.tumblr.com/post/151794378012)

I don’t think that Mary is so much ‘compared’ to the moon, as she **eclipses it**. She’s the thing that’s come BETWEEN the sun and moon (would that be earth? lord, I’m as bad as Sherlock when it comes to this stuff :P) She is between them, casting her shadow across the moon.

The English translation of the song: Clair de la Lune

 

> _In the light of the moon, Pierrot, my friend_  
>  Loan me your pen to write something down  
>  My candle’s dead, I’ve got no flame to light it  
>  Open your door, for the love of God!
> 
> _In the light of the moon, Pierrot replied_  
>  I don’t have a pen, I’m in bed  
>  Go to the neighbor’s, I think she’s there  
>  Because someone just lit a match in the kitchen
> 
> _In the light of the moon, likable Harlequin_  
>  Knocked on the brunette’s door, and she responded immediately  
>  Who’s knocking like that? And he replied  
>  Open your door, for the God of Love!
> 
> **_In the light of the moon, you can barely see anything  
>  Someone looked for a pen, someone looked for a flame  
>  In all of that looking, I don’t know what was found  
>  But I do know that those two shut the door behind them._ **

 

[ sherlock-overflow-error ](http://sherlock-overflow-error.tumblr.com/post/151849760813)

A bit of research turned up some _very_  interesting information. There are [several poems or songs called “Clair de lune”](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FClair_de_Lune&t=ZWQ0MDUxMDJhNTI3NTMwMWFhMDc1MDk2ZTAwY2E2NmUwMGVlYzc4MSx6NnRkUHNtYQ%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153697174321%2Fclair-de-lune&m=1), but these four seemed particularly telling and well-known:

  * The French folk song “Au clair de la lune”
  * Paul Verlaine’s poem “Clair de lune”
  * Victor Hugo’s poem “Clair de lune”
  * The poem “Clair de Lune” by Arthur Symons



@monikakrasnorada analyzed **the first one** very nicely above.

 

**The second one** , Paul Verlaine’s poem, is as follows:

 

> Your soul is like a landscape fantasy,  
>  Where masks and Bergamasks, in charming wise,  
>  Strum lutes and dance, just a bit sad to be  
>  Hidden beneath their fanciful disguise.  
>    
>  Singing in minor mode of life’s largesse  
>  And all-victorious love, they yet seem quite  
>  Reluctant to believe their happiness,  
>  And their song mingles with the pale moonlight,  
>    
>  The still moonlight, sad and beautiful,  
>  Sets the birds softly dreaming in the trees,  
>  And makes the marbled fountains, gushing, streaming–  
>  Slender jet-fountains—sob their ecstasies.  ([x](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FClair_de_Lune_%28poem%29&t=MTNkNjViNGYyODY2YTQ1ZDdlZGFlNDUyMjJhZmU1ZjBhNjU1MjIwMyx6NnRkUHNtYQ%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153697174321%2Fclair-de-lune&m=1))

I can think of two plausible interpretations:

**First: Sherlock at the wedding, “singing… of all-victorious love… yet seem[ing] quite reluctant to believe [his] happiness.”**

[Originally posted by kanes-the-fan-of-stuff](https://tmblr.co/ZPqGVt19Dgl6U)

**Second: Mary not being as loving or honest as she seems, “hidden beneath [her] fanciful disguise.”**

[Originally posted by auraphotic](https://tmblr.co/Zfpq-w15dJ96S)

Neither of these bode well for a happy Watson marriage.

**The third one** , by Victor Hugo:

 

> Bright shone the merry moonbeams dancing o'er the wave;  
>  At the cool casement, to the evening breeze flung wide,  
>  Leans **the Sultana, and delights to watch the tide,**  
>  With surge of silvery sheen, yon sleeping islets lave.  
>    
>  From her hand, as it falls, vibrates the light guitar.  
>  She listens—hark! that sound that echoes dull and low.  
>  Is it the beat upon the Archipelago  
>  Of some long galley’s oar, from Scio bound afar?  
>    
>  Is it the cormorants, whose black wings, one by one,  
>  Cut the blue wave that o'er them breaks in liquid pearls?  
>  Is it some hovering sprite with whistling scream that hurls  
>  Down to the deep from yon old tower a loosened stone?  
>    
>  Who thus disturbs the tide near the seraglio?  
>  ‘Tis no dark cormorants that on the ripple float,  
>  ‘Tis no dull plume of stone—no oars of Turkish boat,  
>  With measured beat along the water creeping slow.  
>    
>  **‘Tis heavy sacks, borne each by voiceless dusky slaves;  
>  And could you dare to sound the depths of yon dark tide,  
>  Something like human form would stir within its side.**  
>  Bright shone the merry moonbeams dancing o'er the wave. ([x](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.poemhunter.com%2Fpoem%2Fclair-de-lune-moonlight-on-the-bosphorus%2F&t=NzdhZGJhNGI4ZTliMDEwODhjOWM0ZWNiMmVmZWU1MjllNzlkOTc1NCx6NnRkUHNtYQ%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153697174321%2Fclair-de-lune&m=1))

 

I had some trouble finding English-language analyses of this one, but the poem essentially contrasts picturesque exoticism with the horror of reality and likely refers to the bloody [Greek war of independence against the Turks](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FGreek_War_of_Independence&t=ZTk2NzRiZjdhZGJkN2Y3MmUxOWNkZmUyNWViZTc3MDRkYzFjMjU2Myx6NnRkUHNtYQ%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153697174321%2Fclair-de-lune&m=1) ([thank you, four years of French.](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bacdefrancais.net%2Flune.php&t=MjgxNDIxNzEwNTM0MTU2NTE3M2NmOWY3ZjQzZjRlMmExZmRiYzUyNix6NnRkUHNtYQ%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153697174321%2Fclair-de-lune&m=1))

**Something that at first seems beautiful is actually sordid. *cough* Mary *cough***

**The fourth one** , by Arthur Symons:

That’s the one originally posted. Besides the poem being absurdly trmojas, Symons himself is… interesting…

[@tendergingergirl](https://tmblr.co/mAUpLkk-g2KbCwvrDqp01Zg) [pointed out that Symons knew Oscar Wilde professionally](http://tendergingergirl.tumblr.com/post/151786607241/clair-de-lune). And while my own online research turned up little about Symons’s personal life, it does mention his prolonged stay in Paris with Havelock Ellis. So what?

 

> **Havelock Ellis** …was an English physician, writer, [progressive intellectual](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FProgressivism&t=OTNjMWEwMzMyYzJiMGY0NzVjYTU3NDQ3OTRjNzkyMTYwNGE0YmYyMSx6NnRkUHNtYQ%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153697174321%2Fclair-de-lune&m=1) and social reformer who studied [human sexuality](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHuman_sexuality&t=NWQzZWY1MzYwMDU5NGIwZGY2NzYzNGQ5ZGVjZDY0MTg1OWVkMjk5NSx6NnRkUHNtYQ%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153697174321%2Fclair-de-lune&m=1). He was co-author of the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and inclinations, as well as [transgender](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTransgender&t=ODk5MTBlNWJlMTA1NWUxZWE0OGVkYTY5ZThmNjYwNjNmNWJkN2NlMyx6NnRkUHNtYQ%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153697174321%2Fclair-de-lune&m=1) psychology. ([x](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHavelock_Ellis&t=YjRjOWFmYzIwYjM0YmU2OTUzZTYxMThjMjc1ZWYzMGU5ZGRkMjkyZCx6NnRkUHNtYQ%3D%3D&b=t%3A99US-dd59KEFK-T_oX2E5Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Ftendergingergirl.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153697174321%2Fclair-de-lune&m=1))

We may draw our own conclusions.

 

**In summary, we have:**

  * A saucy folk song
  * A poem about people not really believing in a love story
  * A poem about a beautiful scene actually being horrible
  * A love poem written in 1895 by a man of dubious heterosexuality



It doesn’t exactly bode well for Mary as the reformed wife of a happily married John Watson.

(Tagging others who might be interested below.)

[Keep reading](http://sherlock-overflow-error.tumblr.com/post/151849760813/clair-de-lune)

 

[ keagan-ashleigh ](http://keagan-ashleigh.tumblr.com/post/151850850571)

Amazing! Thank you for tagging me, there is such a wonderful parallel to do with these poems. As a French I obviously know Au Clair de la Lune, since this is a lullaby we learn as children at school (and I can play the tune with piano), but I never made the connection.

Just a precision with the translation of “battre le briquet”, it doesn’t only mean “light up matches”, in this context, it’s an expression that means chatting, it means Pierrot can hear his neighbour talk with someone in her kitchen.  
But there is also a second meaning because that’s also an old slang for having sex, like “help someone put up some shelves” in English. A huge amount of lullabies have double meaning, like, the Green Mouse (Une Souris Verte) is about torture as it is about a mouse turned into a snail, it’s the case for Au Clair de la Lune.

In the first version it’s not Harlequin who knock’s on the brunette’s door but Lubin, describe as a “depraved monk”, and Lubin/ Harlequin doesn’t look for a pen but for light.  
  
The whole song is in fact about sex and searching for the light of desire, really, it’s a great example of subtext. Interesting, isn’t it! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

[ sherlock-overflow-error ](http://sherlock-overflow-error.tumblr.com/post/151852088193)

Thank you for the French knowledge! So, indeed, all the poems refer to searching for love or a current relationship/state of affairs being worse than it seems.

 

[ keagan-ashleigh ](http://keagan-ashleigh.tumblr.com/post/151859126766)

Exactly, and all these poems are based on a symbol of romanticism: the moonlight. The moonlight is the witness of secret loves and is also a big symbol of melancholia. That’s something we can find back in the musical pieces named after it, like Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata or Debussy’s Clair de Lune.  
  
There’s also the fact that the light of the moon we see when it has the shape of the perfume bottle is only the visible part, all the rest is hidden in the shadow.  
Pretty much like Mary, she shows only a slight part of herself, that seems shiny because she wants to appear as nice and loveable, but there is a wide part of herself she keeps hidden.  
And the part hidden, without the light as we see it from Earth, isn’t as beautiful as we expect it to be. It doesn’t shine, it’s all grey, dead, desolated. Still beautiful for astronomers and space nerds like me, but truthfully the moon is not actually what we see of it. It’s not a shinning pearl, it’s all dust and rocks fixed in a dreadful immobility. That’s Mary. She’s really not what she seems to be.

These poems takes root in this symbolism, the moon is beautiful in appearance, and changeable seen from the Earth, but in fact it’s as constant as it’s a dead world. It’s as shiny as dark. The moon is symbolically the listener and the confident for the soul.

I just remembered I had a talk some times ago about Verlaine’s poem and moon symbolism, [here](http://keagan-ashleigh.tumblr.com/post/147649111726/this-may-be-a-bit-of-a-stretch-but-there-is-a-poem). I also talked a bit about Verlaine’s life, which lets remind it, was gay (he wrote the poem a while before meeting Rimbaud, but it’s not as if he suddenly turned gay when he met him - the poem is assumed to be written for a woman, but there’s no proof of that).

 

[ tjlcisthenewsexy ](http://tjlcisthenewsexy.tumblr.com/post/151866778655)

I cling desperately to Sherlock being the Earth not the moon. That one shot of him in the pilot in front of the giant full moon, I believe it’s actually still comparing Sherlock to a planet, if not the Earth specifically, because when we see Mary’s moon it’s more of a crescent, whereas Sherlock’s moon looks like a planet, and it’s huge size reinforces that:

  


(gif from [here](https://darlingtonsubstitution.tumblr.com/post/136580189961/the-what-of-the-what-the-obliquity-of-the))

The sun anchors a planet in it’s orbit and gives light and warmth and LIFE. A moon is smaller and less significant, and comes between a planet and it’s sun. 

I think John, the sun, pulls people (planets) into his orbit. I think this is the subtext of Sholto’s burns on his face. Sholto (a planet too) got too close to the sun, and got burnt. It’s also why Sherlock dies without John, because if the Sun were to suddenly disappear, a planet would drift off into space and die. 

There’s also a reference (at least one) to Clair de lune in Doctor Who (yeah I’m talking about Doctor Who again sorry).

Instead of Clair de Lune, which in this context is probably the Debussy piano piece, there’s a looped transmission that takes over every channel on the TV and the radio. Sound familiar? 

So because the transmission comes on where Clair de Lune was supposed to, it’s comparing Clair de lune (Mary) to the transmission (Did you miss me?), saying that they’re basically one and the same. In other words Mary is the new Moriarty.

 

[ tendergingergirl ](http://tendergingergirl.tumblr.com/post/151871285716)

 

WOW!! Thank you to everyone for these gorgeous additions to my post. So much more to learn, which is always fun. This is actually how I am familiar with Clair de lune. I used collect International Lullabies, years ago, as a Preschool teacher. I would to play them for the children during naptime. They  worked like a charm. Such peaceful times.

[@ninjamichella](https://tmblr.co/mYTedLgC65g1t9GFRZ-WGlQ) added: I know it is irrelevant but the Danish version of “Au clair de la lune” is very romantic (without the sexual subtext, though) and imagining Sherlock as Pierrot and John as Pierette (Pierrot’s love interest) brought me to tears. The song can be translated into:

Pierrot said to the moon: “Now, shine white and bright

until I have finished writing this letter.

Remember, it is Pierette I am writing to

Asking if she will be my wife”

And under the light of the moon Pierrot was writing.

He used fourteen days to write half a letter.

Before he was finished, you will understand,

the moon was gone - that’s the way of the world.

Analyzing this version, you will find that Pierrot (or Sherlock) is too late to confess his love for Pierette (or John). When he is finally ready the moon is gone because of the lunar cycle (things have changed, John is married, and Mary is expecting a baby which is the cycle of life).

I just… thought I would share it.

##  [@tendergingergirl](https://tmblr.co/mAUpLkk-g2KbCwvrDqp01Zg):  not irrelevant at all! Thank you! Good meta addition.

* * *

 

[ sherlock-overflow-error ](http://sherlock-overflow-error.tumblr.com/post/151909246908)

Oh, fantastic! So no matter what Clair de la Lune is meant to reference, it bodes well for Johnlock. We’ve got:

  * The overarching **astronomy metaphor** : Sherlock is the earth, John the sun, and Mary the moon. Not to point out the obvious, but the moon doesn’t revolve around the sun. Nor does Mary adore John, whereas Sherlock does.
  * As [@keagan-ashleigh](https://tmblr.co/mgCAJ52tdG9fyEYVEMYs-_A) mentioned, a crescent moon has a **dark side**.
  * Moonlight is often associated with **sad/bittersweet love**. That fits nicely with the astronomy metaphor: Mary’s influence (moonlight) makes John and Sherlock’s relationship (daytime) melancholy and painful.
  * Then there’s the French song about **searching for love.**
  * And the **two Victorian ~~gay pining~~ poems**, by Verlaine and Symon.
  * And the one by Hugo about **hidden horrors**.



And I just realized: The blog entry on “The Six Thatchers” features a Sherlock mirror named Pietro; the French song is about Pierrot. Could be coincidence, but what if it’s not? Any ideas?

@asherlockstudy, thank you for [pointing out that the perfume Clair de Lune _does_  exist, one by Visconti](https://asherlockstudy.tumblr.com/post/151852157170/clair-de-lune). I think perhaps they changed the name to “de _la_  Lune” in order to _avoid_  the association with an existing perfume. That would explain why the perfume’s name is only slightly different from the titles of the poems and songs. They may even be encouraging us to examine the deliberate choice of that name and what it might reference.

(And thank you for the comment, [@isitandwonder](https://tmblr.co/mFsqQSE2JWjcYbaG45JmOgw) :) )

 

[ tendergingergirl ](http://tendergingergirl.tumblr.com/post/151922411981)

Of course [@sherlock-overflow-error](https://tmblr.co/mXdqqN9-DUfB1nys-xVZ8_A) **[Sherlock AS Pierrot.](http://tendergingergirl.tumblr.com/post/151922389531/sherlock-as-pierrot)**

* * *

[@torchwoodpride](https://tmblr.co/mg7RWl6r2SgRl70CTv9-KTg) asked “ if she isn’t the moon herself, but merely pretends to be, spraying the essence of ‘moonliness’ on herself, as another disguise?”

. As I mentioned to [@ebaeschnbliah](https://tmblr.co/mBqRAqROLLdNBwKXWSbGPFA), the Moon itself has a dark side. They presented her to us as glowing and full of light, but she literally went dark when she showed up at Magussen’s office. I think it is just a part of who she is.

 

[ ebaeschnbliah ](http://ebaeschnbliah.tumblr.com/post/151931191789)

What a massive load of brilliant and interesting information! I’ve just two little additions. First - the moon behind Sherlock in the Pilot isn’t a full moon. It’s not crescent any more but still waxing. The bottle of Claire de la Lune is shot as crescent waxing moon as well. And second - look what I found in TAB - the bride vanishing underground and into the dark …. through a sewer cover:

 

 

[ tendergingergirl ](http://tendergingergirl.tumblr.com/post/151931572176)

Seriously, this show. [@gosherlocked](https://tmblr.co/mIezJLOqh6ybA-BhE420_yw) has a great meta of Sherlock melting into the moon, in HLV. Full text [**here**](http://gosherlocked.tumblr.com/post/152658472451/clair-de-la-lune).

 

[ sherlock-overflow-error ](http://sherlock-overflow-error.tumblr.com/post/153313093528)

Oh, very nice [@gosherlocked](https://tmblr.co/mIezJLOqh6ybA-BhE420_yw)! So perhaps instead of Sherlock being the Earth and Mary the moon, it’s more specifically that Sherlock is a full moon and Mary is a crescent.

(And of course it doesn’t mean anything… that Sherlock is the _whole_  one… and Mary is _missing a piece…_ just sayin’.)

 

softgrunge-silverheels  Deactivated 

It’s worth noting that the moon reflects light from the sun, it doesn’t create its own. Mary is full of light and warmth when she is with John, but without or in the absence of John she is secretive and without light. Similar could be said of Sherlock, although with the additional consideration that he continues to wax- he becomes more and more the good man, while retaining the more lightless side because that is his nature. Mary, however, is fixed in the light that she shows. She loves John, but her light/dark nature is fixed with or without him.


End file.
